Home / Health / Hantavirus Scare: 12 Hospital Workers Under Quarantine
Hantavirus Scare: 12 Hospital Workers Under Quarantine
12 May
Summary
- Twelve hospital employees are under quarantine due to safety protocol breaches.
- Protocols were not fully followed in treating a patient infected with hantavirus.
- The infected patient was evacuated from the MV Hondius cruise ship.
Twelve staff members at the Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen have been placed under a six-week quarantine. This measure follows a breach in safety protocols observed during the treatment of a patient confirmed to have hantavirus. The hospital has acknowledged that existing safety procedures were not entirely adhered to in this case.
Specifically, a blood sample from the patient should have undergone a more rigorous processing procedure due to the nature of the virus. Additionally, the disposal of the patient's biological materials did not conform to current international regulations. The affected patient was among those evacuated from the MV Hondius cruise ship, where a hantavirus outbreak had previously been reported.
The MV Hondius cruise ship, which experienced a hantavirus outbreak resulting in three deaths and one critical case, departed Tenerife for the Netherlands on May 11. Earlier, on May 7, the Radboud University Medical Center confirmed the positive hantavirus test result for one of its patients evacuated from the ship. This patient is receiving appropriate treatment within the hospital.
